Art in the Wildflower
Woodland wildflowers of the early spring are always a welcome sign to me and a subject that I l love to photograph. Although there are some challenges to photographing wildflowers, the composition possibilities are endless and you’ll never run out of ways to explore this amazing display. One of the challenges you’ll encounter when [...]
Cades Cove Magic
A morning at Cades Cove usually turns out to be a morning well spent. No matter how many times I’ve visited, each morning turns out to be different, offering something interesting to photograph. The Cove takes you back in time a little bit, makes you think about what life might have been like 100-150 years [...]
Art of the Crop: Composition in Post
How you decide to crop an image is a definite artistic choice, one that you make in the field and certainly one that you can make in the digital dark room. And with the Virtual Copy feature in Lightroom you can make different crops and see what works best without consuming a ton of [...]
Return to Spring: Great Smoky Mountains
Springtime in the mountains is always something I look forward to. The sense of anticipation of spring really begins to build and I can’t get to the Smokies quite fast enough! Part of the excitement is the unknown. Although I’ve been to the Smokies every spring for many years, each visit reveals something new. There [...]
eBook review: Visual Flow by Ian Plant with George Stocking
Ian Plant and the crew at the Dreamscapes blog are a group of talented photographers who also happen to be great writers that infuse quite a bit of humor into their posts. They produce must-read material for the landscape photographer in particular. Visual Flow is an ebook by Ian Plant and George Stocking that [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper: Zion National Park
The hike to the Subway in Zion National Park is quite an adventure. But it’s the beauty along the way that’s equally as stunning as the destination. Click on the correct size below to match the resolution of your monitor. 1900×1200 1680×1050 1400×900 Macs: For Safari users, once the image appears in your [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper: Valley of Fire
Valley of Fire is a magical place of color and stone that captivates the imagination. The low late afternoon side light created some cool conditions to photograph the stone and sky. Wonderful place to explore and photograph. Click on the correct size below to match the resolution of your monitor. 1920×1200 1680×1050 1280×800 Macs: [...]
Clearing Storm: Bryce Canyon National Park
The forecast was not good. Any time a winter storm with a name is approaching, look out! But after making the late night drive from Zion to Bryce we were hoping for just a brief glimpse at sunrise. I was hiking and photographing with good friend and business partner Ken Koskela. We had originally planned [...]
Waiting on the Watchman: Zion National Park
Optimism. There are a lot of tools in the gear bag of a landscape photographer but maybe none more important than optimism. I’d been to Zion several times and always wanted to photograph the Watchman in some cool light. As is often the case, the skies turn out to be blank and nothing really interesting [...]
Photographing the Subway: Jewel of Zion National Park
Zion National Park in southwestern Utah is a photographer ‘s dream, especially in the Fall with the Cottonwoods and Maples on full display. And high on the list of locations to photograph in Zion is the iconic Subway. It’s just an incredible place that’s impossible to describe or even tell the complete story through photographs. [...]
New eBook by Robert Rodruguez Jr.
One thing I love about the creative community is when someone steps up and shares insights with clarity that really resonate. Robert Rodriquez Jr. is one of those folks who can articulate the thoughts behind images and describe the emotional piece of the creative process. Robert’s latest eBook title is Insights from Beyond the [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper: Fall in Colorado
There is fall and then there is fall in Colorado. From the Gunnison National Forest down to the San Juans and the Uncompahgre Wilderness, Colorado provides some incredible places to hike and photograph in the fall. The ever changing mountain light combined with the intense colors of the Aspen groves make for some fantastic [...]
Notes on Composition in the Landscape: Framing
Fall is here now and for the landscape photographer, it’s a great time to be out exploring and just taking in the beauty of the season. And the compositions are endless from the grand scenics to the more intimate scenes and even the macro world. The colors, shapes, and textures are just mesmerizing. But you [...]
Notes on Composition in the Landscape: Simplify
How do you go about photographing a forest? It’s actually not that easy. But one tool for composition that you’ll want to keep in mind is to simplify. And that’s especially true for forest scenes. So many times I’ve just been blown away by the surrounding forest but just couldn’t work out a composition. [...]
Notes on Composition in the Landscape: Foreground feature
Finding an interesting foreground element is usually not all that difficult to do. It’s the first thing that grabs your attention and draws you into the scene. And it’s a great place to start building your composition, especially if you’re interested in adding that third D, or depth, that’s often desired for the wide [...]
Notes on Composition in the Landscape: Contrasting Planes
Sometimes you can add a little visual tension to an image by looking for planes that provide contrast in some way. That contrast could be a difference in color, texture, shape or some other element. The first thing that caught my eye about this image was the amazing light. It was mysterious and was coming [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper from Iceland at Breidamerkursandur
Nature sometimes offers up a scene that lies somewhere between the real and the surreal. This feeling is really what I like to capture and express the most. The amazing light at 2am on the south coast of Iceland along with the black sand beach and stranded icebergs combined for something I was [...]
Notes from the Wave at North Coyote Buttes
Iconic landscape locations are iconic for a reason. They are epic, mind bending places that absolutely defy the imagination and The Wave at North Coyote Buttes is certainly one of those dream places for most landscape photographers. But there’s a twist which adds to the mystique of the place. You have to win a [...]
Free iPad Wallpaper!
Instructions for downloading to your desktop machine and uploading to your iPad: 1. Click the image below to use as wallpaper for your iPad. The full size image will appear in your browser. 2. Save the image to your desktop by right clicking on the image. 3. Drag or save the image to the [...]
Free iPad Wallpaper!
Instructions for downloading to your desktop machine and uploading to your iPad: 1. Click the image below to use as wallpaper for your iPad. The full size image will appear in your browser. 2. Save the image to your desktop by right clicking on the image. 3. Drag or save the image to the [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper for April 2012
Click on the correct size below to match the resolution of your monitor. Macs: For Safari users, once the image appears in your browser, right click (or control+click) with your mouse and choose ” use image as desktop”. If you’re using Chrome you’ll need to right click the image and save it to your desktop. From there go into [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper March 2012!
Click on the correct size below to match the resolution of your monitor. Macs: For Safari users, once the image appears in your browser, right click (or control+click) with your mouse and choose ” use image as desktop”. If you’re using Chrome you’ll need to right click the image and save it to your desktop. From there go into [...]
Free iPad Wallpaper!
Instructions for downloading to your desktop machine and uploading to your iPad: 1. Click the image you want to use as wallpaper for your iPad. The full size image will appear in your browser. 2. Save the image to your desktop by right clicking on the image. 3. Drag or save the image the folder [...]
Free Desktop Wallpaper February 2012
Click on the correct size below to match the resolution of your monitor. Macs: For Safari users, once the image appears in your browser, right click (or control+click) with your mouse and choose ” use image as desktop”. If you’re using Chrome you’ll need to right click the image and save it to your desktop. From there [...]